Electrolytic apparatus.



No. 733,643. PATENTED JULY 14, 1903. L. GURWITSGH.

ELECTROLYTIC APPARATUS.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 10. 1902.

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Nrrnn STATES Patented July 14, 1903.

LEO GURVVITSOH, OF KIEW, RUSSIA.

ELECTROLYTIC APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 733,643, dated July 14, 1903.

Application filed November 10,1902. Serial No. 130,779- \No model.)

Russia, have invented new and useful lmprovements in Electrolytic Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to apparatus designed for the electrolysis of solutions of alkaline saltssuch as alkaline chlorids and such as are contained in saccharine juices, molasses, residuary liquors from breweries and distilleries, waste liquors from wool-washing, and the likewith the aid of mercury electrodes.

I have found that the adhesion between iron and mercury amalgam is so great that a thin jet of amalgam flowing from an aperture of about one-third of a millimeter in diameter against an iron plate placed vertically in water will spread upon such plate to form a streak of from twelve to fifteen millimeters in width. On a great increase of the surface tension of theoamalgam there occur, however, greater or smaller contractions of the streaks. Now my said invention has for its object to preclude such contraction and promote the widening of the streaks by providing the iron plates with minute grooves or flutes arranged contiguously in order to compensate the surface tension by this capillary action of the grooves or flutes. Athin jet flowing from an aperture of about one-third of a millimeter in diameter spreads out upon the grooved or fluted plate to form a streak of twenty-five to thirty millimeters. Thus it is feasible to coat iron plates with very thin and uniform layers and to employ them as cathodes without the necessity which has heretofore arisen of setting large quantities of mercury in circulation. For this purpose thin mercury-jets arranged from twenty-five to thirty millimeters apart are caused to spurt upon minutely grooved or fluted iron plates and, dissolving the alkaline metal liberated by the current, spread over the entire surface of the plates. Such iron plates on one side of which mercury is spurted are arranged in the circuit as bipolar electrodes, only the two outer plates being connected with the positive and with the negative pole, respectively, while all the intermediate plates are insulated. In cases plates 6 are all insulated.

where the iron is attacked by the anion of the electrolyzing substance the other sides of the plates may be protected from destruction by coating them with a substance which is not liable to be so attacked and is a good conductor or by fixing carbon or lead plates upon the same.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical longitudinal section, and Fig. 2 a vertical transverse section, of an electrolytic apparatus constructed according to this invention. Fig. 3 shows, to an enlarged plates, as before stated, must be protected and v the apparatus must be furnished with a closefitting cover and with tubes for conducting away the chlorin.

In carrying my said invention into effect I provide a box or receptacle a, wherein iron plates 1), adapted in number to the voltage, are fixed,the two outer plates 1) b being connected with the positive and negative poles of the dynamo, respectively, while the intermediate The iron plates 6 are furnished on one side with minute horizontal grooves or flutes b arranged quite close together. The other side of the iron plates b receives a coating b of a substance not liable to be attacked by the anions or is covered for this purpose with a carbon or lead plate. The lower edges of the plates are bent round and form channels wherein the merc lry flowing off is caught up. Between the lower edges of the plates and the bottom' of the receptacle is left a free space adapted to take up the falling dirt.

For insulating the electrodes from each other it is suflicient for them to be held apart by means of wooden blocks 19 as shown in Fig. 5, or to furnish the two opposite sides of the receptacle a with grooves adapted to receive the edges of the plates, as will be readily understood.

A device is provided for conducting the requsite mercury to the plates and receiving it from them without contact being made between the several plates by the mercury. This distributer consists of a casing 0, made of wood, preferably lignum-vitze, and havin a hole throughout its length, wherein a distributing-cylinder i is fitted to be turned, the said cylinder being furnished with a nu mberof recesses f. Aninlet-channeld,extending from one end of the block to the other, serves for the reception of the mercury to be distributed. Opposite the inlet-channel d, on the other side of the cylinder, I form small discharge-chambers L, which are separated from each other. The mercury may flow from the inlet channel into the discharge-chambers is through the passages e and 6, provided in the same vertical plane as the recessesj'in the cylinder i, when rotary movement is imparted to the latter by a motor through the medium of a cord and pulley, the said recesses being alternately set in communication with the inlet-orifice e and with the outlet-orifice 6. At the lower part of the receptacle is arranged a mercury-collector 7L, constructed on the same principle as the distributer. The cylinder 1'. of this collector is furnished with recesses f and is likewise actuated by means of a cord and pulley, but tu rns somewhat more quickly than the distributing-cylinder i to make sure that all the mercury will be conducted away through the pipe 13. By means of a small pump Z- the mercury is conveyed from a vessel m, through a pipe 11, into the channel (Z, passes through the channels 6 into the recessesfof the distributing-cylinder v1, and, in the turning movement of this cylinder, through the outlet-channels 6 into the discharge-chamber k, in which the iron distributing-pipes g terminate. These pipes pass along the upper edges of the plates and are provided with holes 9, having a diameter of one-third of a millimeter and placed at distances of twenty-five millimeters apart. The holes g are somewhat inclined toward the plates, so that the mercury ejected from them will spurt against the plates. The apparatus is furnished with the necessarycirculating and cleansing cocks. On the channel (1 is arranged an overflow-pipe o, terminating in the vessel m, so that any excess of mercury conveyed to the first-mentioned channel will immediately fiow back again.

The improved apparatus possesses several important advantages. There is, in the first place, an enormous saving of mercury, as the layers of mercury are exceedingly thin, by reason of the great adhesion of the amalgam to the iron and the capillary action due to the grooves or flutes. As set forth, the quantity of mercury to be kept in motion is very small,

being at most four kilograms a minute per square meter of cathode-surface, and the cir culation of the same requires very little power. In the second place, the number of electrolyzers requisite foragiven production may be reduced from twenty to twenty-five times, as each of them may contain from twenty to twenty-five and more double electrodes,thereby increasing the total surface of the electrodes of an electrolyzer from twenty to twenty five times. There is, further, an equally great reduction in the number of the electric conductors and contacts, thus achieving a very great saving not only in the cost of installation, but also in the cost of maintenance. This fact is of particular importance in the electrolysis of chlorid solutions,where the properplacing of the anodes and thecleansing of the contactsllave hitherto given rise to much trouble and expense.

WVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In electrolytic apparatus of the character described, the combination, with a receptacle, of iron plates provided on one side with minute grooves, the two outer plates being connected with the poles of the dynamo and the intermediate plates being insulated, and means for spurting mercury against the grooved side of the said plates, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In electrolytic apparatus of the character described, the combination, with a receptacle, of iron plates provided on one side with minute grooves and covered on the other side with a'conducting substance not liable to be attacked by the anions,the two outer plates'being connected with the poles of the dynamo and the intermediate plates being insulated, and means for spur-ting mercury against the grooved side of the said plates, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In electrolytic apparatus of the character described the combination, with a receptacle, of iron plates provided on one side with minute grooves, and covered on the other side with a conducting substance not liable to be attacked by the anions, the two outer plates being connected with the poles of the dynamo and the intermediate plates being insulated, a distributing-casing furnished at the top of the said receptacle, a collecting-casing provided at the bottom of the same, a distributing-cylinder fitted in each of the said casings and adapted to be rotated, each cylinder being furnished with recesses adapted to communicate alternately with inlet and discharge channels in the said casing, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LEO GURWITSOH.

Witnesses:

M. W. BHonE, THOMAS MILES. 

